Day 7

If you are on Facebook you know people are getting creative on how they pass their time during this time.  One of my favs is the wife has long blond hair and she bends over and fluffs her hair to hang down like a horse tail.  He gets in front of her with his back to the camera and the music makes them bounce along as it he was riding a horse. Lots of "virus" songs being written, and other fun things.  The mind can do some pretty silly stuff when forced to keep busy.  There are lots of color pages, crafts for kids, blueprint has free classes til April 9th, lots of free cross stitches being given on FB, and tons of other things. 

I decided to put St Pat's away and drag out Easter.  How many Easter bunnies does one need.  I found a tub that had nothing but stuffed bunnies in all sizes and colors and textures, etc.  Well I had 4 Easter tubs and I now have 2.  I am trying to whittle down my holiday tubs to 2 each.  I have way too many decorations and so this year I am cleaning out. They all reside on shelves in my attic that walks out over the garage from my bedroom.  They are getting too heavy to haul downstairs and then back up and it is a lot of work for what?  I have 2 small boxes of Easter dishes, for what, just mom and I now and I usually go over there and eat cos it is only $6 and I don't have to cook or clean up afterwards.  Mom can't cook anymore so.....  Times change and not always for the better.

We had knit group on Zoom.  It went well and we ended up just sitting around talking mostly about the virus.  We decided we needed to stay in touch once a week just to keep up with everyone and make sure we were all ok.  We had just started a toy class but that will have to be put on hold.  

Day 6

I have not been anywhere since a week ago Friday.  The first couple of days were kind of rough like when we get a blizzard and you can't get out.  But then I settled down into the calendar is empty and I have this huge list of things I want to get done, so I started working on the list.  The winds have finally died down they said we were gusting at 49mph yesterday afternoon and evening.  No wonder the nest blew down.

I did get most of the application down today for the yard, now I need some rain.

The jonquils are blooming as well as the violets and these flowers I have no idea what they are.  The Decorah sunset was beautiful as it often is.

Day Five

I thought we were supposed to have thunderboomers over night, I see the street is wet but maybe I slept through the storm.  They had even mentioned the T word (tornado).  Prayers for those in Jonesboro who did get hit by one. 

Doing some laundry today and finishing up those last 4 masks.  32 total masks made. 

Dear Hollywood:  JUST STOP.  No one cares about you and what pain you are going through, really you can pay your rent and your help.  I don't want to see Madonna in her bathtub or saying that we are all in this together.  Really?  you have no idea what people are going through and you singing us a song is not gonna help pay the rent.  Just go away and leave us alone.

WE HAVE SUNSHINE.

I am in the laundry room and hear honking, what neighbor is doing this, oh no there is a whole string  of cars honking their horns. I live on a cul de sac that ends the street on another cul de sac, we don't get traffic and we like it that way.  But these morons are clogging up the streets and what for?

My nest I found yesterday on the porch is gone this afternoon,  We have high winds and it must have taken the unfinished nest away.  At least there weren't any eggs.  I wonder if they will re-build.  I did work in the flower bed for awhile but the high winds drove me back inside.

I just heard on the news that they quit making Peeps during the virus and quarantining of everyone.  I hope there are enough out there for Easter.  I best go see if I can find some.

Day 4

Had some rain and thunder in the wee hours and now it is chilly and cloudy, another day without sun. It would be better being stuck at home if I had some sun, has been about 2 weeks of clouds now.  That alone can drive a person batty.

I started sewing the masks and after 3 I got sick of them, I will make my self finish them just to get them off my plate.

So everyone is like why are people buying a cart load of TP?  The answer is simple, my neighbors have 5 in their house, 2 adults, a female teenager, and 2 grade school boys.  They leave the house around 7 or so and get home around 5.  Now those 5 people are home all day, imagine how much TP they are using now, just like everything else, the kids ate lunch at school now they eat at home.  I know when I retired I had more dishes and used a lot more of regular stuff cos I am home all day, every day.

I have been home for a week now and I am getting to the point where I am ok now.  Why is it I have tons of things to do and when my calendar is full I get upset cos I can't stay home and work on stuff.  Now I am home and I don't want to do any of it. Once I get the masks done I will start back on my basement.  There is always something.

I was looking out the window where I hang the hummingbird feeder thinking it was about time to start making nectar cos they would be here soon.  I spied a new messy nest being built so I will need to rethink it.  On the other side of my front porch is a House Finch, they have been bringing in new nest material, this will be their 2nd year there.

Day 3

Up early sewing masks.  This popped up my FB feed, one of my fav songs. If you don't know the story behind the song, please look it up.

https://www.wsmv.com/news/a-group-of-nashville-studio-singers-perform-an-epic-cell/article_2245fbf8-6eb2-11ea-9be3-db6cec04c8f3.html?fbclid=IwAR2R3H4edlclKQwe1C2MpxW7J2fNwPNdIBJ_XUCnj8Mi-vZkKDzjriElWK4

Another post on FB this morning:
God has taught me that I never need to worry about tomorrow.  I survived yesterday. I am alive and dealing with Today.  With God's help, I can face tomorrow and whatever may come my way.

My cousin sent me a recipe for buttermilk sweet bread, sounds good and so i am baking a batch of muffins out of it.  It smells wonderful what is not to like buttermilk, butter, vanilla, the wonderful smells of life.  I was really wanting ice cream but we are not to go out of our house except we can go out in your yard, so i made muffins instead. 

Tried working the flower bed but it is too soppy wet.  The weeds are already winning and the dandelions are yuge this year.  I need to pick them and put them in the freezer before i put my application down.  The jonquils are blooming.  

Day 2

Ok So the day started out good but then it didn't go so well.  I cut out some masks and sewed some up.  I did a load of laundry.  Those towels don't fold theirselves.  And I can't get the cats to do it, they just want to lay in the basket of clean towels.  I did take an Essential Oil class on Zoom and got one mitten done for charity.   I was going to put the first application on my yard but it is like a sponge we have had so much rain that it is just soppy.

So you know how it is I purposely only bought healthy food cos I knew we were to stay home and so I would not be out to the store in search of ice cream.  I wanted something sweet but if I bake then I have all this dessert and I did not want a whole cake.  I was looking in the pantry and there in front of me is 4 jars of marshmallow fluff and a can of chocolate frosting.  I bought them to make candy for our sale at church last December.  Oh crap the fluff expired in January, better open it and see if it is ok.  It is a little stickier than usual so better eat it up then.  I bet it would taste good with that chocolate frosting.  Before I knew what had happened I had a spoon and had mixed the two and was eating out of both containers.  This is not good.  I quickly put them in the fridge.  This is not going well.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

D27

This is from Raptor Resource Project

D27 phoned home! Our wandering eaglet sent a postcard from Bluffton, Iowa - roughly a mile or so from Bob's old peregrine falcon breeding project. She's been wandering more as the days grow longer and the weather warms. In January, D27 logged a total of 132.5 miles over 88 data points, with an average trip distance of 1.5 miles. She hunkered down just a tiny bit more in February: logging 132.2 miles, with an average trip distance of 1.1 miles. She spread her wings a bit more in March, traveling 202 miles (so far), with an average trip distance of 2.0 miles.

When will she leave for migration? We started tracking her in the fall of 2017. In 2018, she left for her northern migration on May 8. She left on May 20 in 2019 - a cold winter with a late, very wet spring! So far, this spring is shaping up to be a little earlier. We'll see how that affects her migration.
What would D27 look like now? We've haven't had much luck finding her and three-year-old eagles are extremely variable in plumage colors and patterns. However, she will have salt and pepper plumage, her beak will just be starting to yellow, and her eyes will be paler - much like the two caps we've attached from the Flyway cam. .
Fly high, D27! We're thinking of you. As always, a thousand thanks to Brett Mandernack and the staff of Eagle Valley for sharing the expertise, data, and maps. If you'd like to follow the travels of any of the eagles we've tracked, go to https://www.raptorresource.org/learning-tools/eagle-map/

Day One

Today starts 30 days that my city is basically kind of shut down.  Many business are closed til end of April, schools are closed, churches are closed.  Restaurants are dark inside with no cars in the parking lot but many are doing curb side service.  I have sort of been staying at home for the past 2 weeks and I have to admit even though I am retired I am usually out and about almost daily doing something like my charity works.  My April calendar barely has anything on it.  I like everyone else have that huge list of things to do.  It is time to start yard work but between last week and this one the yard is one giant sponge so not much gonna be done except tomorrow will be 70 so I need to get my first application down weed and feed.  It is just that when you know you have to stay home you don't want to.  You don't want to do anything on the list.  So my goal this week is I have enough elastic for 37 masks and I will get  those made up and get my yard application down, that should be enough, right?  I need to clean out my house and my basement needs a huge overhaul (my craft room) and that will be done.  I have yarn, fabric, books, cross stitch kits, etc etc etc to keep me busy til after I die.  So what are you doing during your staycation?

The one thing I will really miss Easter services.  Maybe I will have my own sunrise service in my driveway.  Bring your coffee I will make a coffee cake and come join me at sunrise.

I Did Not Take This Serious Until....

A couple friends posted this on Facebook talking about the virus.  I now understand why this is so not just the plain flu and why it needs to be taken really serious.

Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. I hope this helps.
It has to do with RNA sequencing.... I.e. genetics.
Seasonal flu is an “all human virus”. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognized by the human immune system. This means that your body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year... you get immunity two ways...through exposure to a virus, or by getting a flu shot.
Novel viruses, come from animals.... the WHO tracks novel viruses in animals, (sometimes for years watching for mutations). Usually these viruses only transfer from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1) (birds in the case of the Spanish flu). But once, one of these animal viruses mutates, and starts to transfer from animals to humans... then it’s a problem, Why? Because we have no natural or acquired immunity.. the RNA sequencing of the genes inside the virus isn’t human, and the human immune system doesn’t recognize it so, we can’t fight it off.
Now.... sometimes, the mutation only allows transfer from animal to human, for years it’s only transmission is from an infected animal to a human before it finally mutates so that it can now transfer human to human... once that happens..we have a new contagion phase. And depending on the fashion of this new mutation, thats what decides how contagious, or how deadly it’s gonna be..
H1N1 was deadly....but it did not mutate in a way that was as deadly as the Spanish flu. It’s RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently, too.
Fast forward.
Now, here comes this Coronavirus... it existed in animals only, for nobody knows how long...but one day, at an animal market, in Wuhan China, in December 2019, it mutated and made the jump from animal to people. At first, only animals could give it to a person... But here is the scary part.... in just TWO WEEKS it mutated again and gained the ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability, “slippery”
This Coronavirus, not being in any form a “human” virus (whereas we would all have some natural or acquired immunity). Took off like a rocket. And this was because, Humans have no known immunity...doctors have no known medicines for it.
And it just so happens that this particular mutated animal virus, changed itself in such a way the way that it causes great damage to human lungs..
That’s why Coronavirus is different from seasonal flu, or H1N1 or any other type of influenza.... this one is slippery. And it’s a lung eater...And, it’s already mutated AGAIN, so that we now have two strains to deal with, strain s, and strain L....which makes it twice as hard to develop a vaccine.
We really have no tools in our shed, with this. History has shown that fast and immediate closings of public places has helped in the past pandemics. Philadelphia and Baltimore were reluctant to close events in 1918 and they were the hardest hit in the US during the Spanish Flu.
Factoid: Henry VIII stayed in his room and allowed no one near him, till the Black Plague passed...(honestly...I understand him so much better now). Just like us, he had no tools in his shed, except social isolation...
And let me end by saying....right now it’s hitting older folks harder... but this genome is so slippery...if it mutates again (and it will). Who is to say, what it will do next.

How Much Would You Give?

I have toilet paper and lots of it cos I stay prepared for several months.  You never know, the power grid, etc could cause a real crises.  So we have this new flu, ok, it is the flu.  The regular annual flu kills thousands of people every year and yet we just move on with our lives. Now the media and the hysteria they have caused have people freaking out. Really this is just another shiny object to keep Trump from getting re-elected, they will stop at nothing.

So many are confused as to why people are stocking up on TP, well the answer is simple, we have been warned we may be confined to our house for a couple of weeks or longer and no one wants to run out of TP and other things. Think about when a snowstorm hits, TP, milk, bread, eggs, alcohol and junk food are many items that are cleared off the shelves in a hurry.  No one wants to run out of the essentials.  However people learn to share.

My mom is in a senior facility and that little voice in my head (it was probably dad) said stock her up just in case, well just in case came Monday when they were told they were quarantined for an undetermined time.  I told her if it came to it she should sell her TP for rent money and I would sneak her in more supplies in the back door. 

Kids are out of school they will be using more TP.  Stocking up is ok but hoarding and acting as if you are the only person on the earth is not. Learn to take only what you think you will need for a couple weeks and share with others. 

This is going to cost our country trillions of dollars and it is just crazy.  Stop the hysteria, go on with your life and you should be washing your hands anyway. 

D32

D32 was released on March 3rd.  Remember he was the eaglet from last year that fell out of the nest and was lost for several days.  Two young men found him while they were fishing.  He finally healed enough and was ready for release.  Fly high and be safe go find D33 and live long lives.  Many thanks to SOAR for taking care of our raptors.   

Girl Scout Cookies

It is that time of year again. I used to look forward to it but not anymore.  First of all $5 for a smaller package of cookies that taste like cardboard.  The taste and texture of the cookies has changed a lot lately. You get less cookies and the whole purpose of the troops selling cookies has been lost on parents.  The purpose of girls selling cookies was to give them skills.  Now mom and dad bring the sheet to work and have people buy cookies, therefore, teaching the child nothing but that mom and dad will do the hard work for them. Part of what is wrong with kids today, the parents are not teaching them anything but doing it for them.  This is why we have a country full of snowflakes who were raised to believe mom and dad would take care of them and they would never have to learn the hard job of being a viable adult.  I saw a couple troops out selling cookies this weekend but the moms were doing all the work, the girls were screaming at people to buy the cookies but the mom were taking the money and all the rest of the sale.  So what did the girls learn, nothing. 

Dear Left

You are such hypocrites.  You claimed Russia interfered in the 2016 election but we all know he did not get Trump elected, actually Hillary did. I remember in 2106 you screwed Bernie over.  Now you are doing it again.  Not that the Commie Bernie should be POTUS but if the people want that for a POTUS then that is the legal and fair way to win the election.  Biden needs to go home, the man is not well mentally. Those are not gaffes, that is a mind with dementia.  Who is going to be his VEEP and that person will ruin the country based on what the elite left and Bloomberg buys and decides.  You are doing exactly what you accused my side of and you should be ashamed. We have the electoral college for a reason and we have the primaries for a reason.  None of your candidates have done anything in their life but suck off the government teat by staying in office for a long time and not putting forth any real bills to be passed and make the country better.  You are getting what you wanted.  For years you have brainwashed children in school to believe Capitalism is bad, Socialism is good. Well guess what those children are now voting and having children and voting and therefore you get Bernie.  It is not too late to start teaching the History of this country, teach morals, valued, and ethics in school.  Teach kids they have want they want but they  have to work for it and not everyone can be a millionaire.  The government is not your parent nor should it take care of you the rest of your life.  You made your bed now you need to lie in it.  SHAME ON YOU!